(A/N: thank you to TomasGranger003 for helping me with the title <3)
Third Person P.O.V.:
"What else did you hear?"
"I don't know what Malfoy's up to exactly, but Snape was offering to help him with something," Charlie explained to Harry, recalling the events of the previous night while Harry packed for his holiday trip to the Burrow. "He said he'd promised Malfoy's mother to protect him, that he'd made an Unbreakable Vow."
"An Unbreakable Vow?" repeated Harry, looking thoroughly perplexed. "What does that mean? What happens if you break it?"
"You die," muttered Charlie darkly, leaning against the support of his four-poster bed as snow drifted past the window in front of him.
Harry gulped uneasily, folding his knitted jumper from Mrs. Weasley and putting it in his trunk, before asking, "Are you going to tell Dumbledore what you heard Snape and Malfoy saying to each other?"
"I suppose that'd be best, yeah," Charlie shrugged, heaving a heavy sigh. "My grandfather will be able to put a stop to it before anything can happen... I just have to wait for him to come back to the castle."
"Pity you didn't hear what Malfoy's actually doing, though."
"I couldn't have done, could I? That was the whole point, he was refusing to tell Snape."
There was silence for a moment or two, then Harry mumbled angrily, "It's annoying, isn't it? Everyone's going to think you've misheard. They'll say Snape isn't really trying to help Malfoy, he was just trying to find out what Malfoy's up to."
"They didn't hear him," said Charlie flatly, slumping his shoulders. "Besides, Hermione was with me, she heard them too —"
"Wait, wait," Harry interrupted, his ears perking up with intrigue. "Hermione was with you? What? Why?"
"Uh, we just had a bit of a run in after the party," Charlie spoke convincingly, trying to prevent a cheeky grin from curling permanently on his lips. "Nothing to worry about."
"Really?" said Harry skeptically, freezing in between folds. When Charlie nodded, he grinned, "Well, then, I'm glad you two got the chance to talk it out."
"Well, yeah... something like that," Charlie muttered under his breath, before he even realized what he was saying. His attempt at brushing past the topic was short-lived, however, as Harry's head had snapped towards him, reacting immediately.
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"Wait," Harry was puzzled, his face scrunched with confusion, "what did you just say?"
"What? Nothing."
"I could've sworn I heard —"
"I didn't say anything."
"But you did. So, if you and Hermione didn't talk then what did you...?" Harry said slowly, clearly raking his brain to put the pieces together. After a few moments, his eyes went wide and his mouth fell agape, forcing him to speak with astonishment, "Oh my Merlin! Did you and Hermione — ? You didn't, did you? Fucking hell, you did!"
